Concern over the appointment of Gordon Dirks to the post of provincial Education minister does not reflect anti-Christian sentiment. It reflects anti-extremist sentiment. There’s a huge difference.

Two years ago, Wildrose candidate Allan Hunsperger managed to single-handedly sink his party’s election hopes with his remark about the “lake of fire” that awaits gays and lesbians. Given that the majority of Albertans are Christians, it follows that the majority of Albertans who turned their backs on the Wildrose, disgusted with Hunsperger’s remarks, were also Christians. They opposed his extremist brand of fundamentalism, not Christianity itself. To criticize a tenet that is perceived as anti-gay does not mean the critic is anti-Christian.

The lake of fire debacle is of such recent memory that when it was revealed that Dirks has preached at a church that holds that homosexuality is sinful, a real fear arose about the possibility of someone in such a powerful position in government possibly attempting to erode or reverse all the progress Alberta has made on the human rights front.

It’s ironic that a letter writer in Wednesday’s Herald accused Liberal MLA Kent Hehr of being bigoted and narrow-minded for asking Dirks to clarify his religious views. Not only is Hehr a church-going Christian himself, but to call him bigoted because he wants to ensure that human rights in this province are not compromised by religious extremism is ridiculous. He should be applauded for his vigilance. To concern oneself with the preservation of human rights is the exact opposite of bigotry. Moreover, when Dirks was on the Calgary Board of Education, he was in favour of including private, religious schools under the CBE’s umbrella, which would have compromised the ban the CBE has on offering faith-based programs in the public system.

People — Christians and everyone else — have every right to question his motives, particularly since the voters didn’t choose him. He was parachuted into his new cabinet position without first being elected.

Further proof that extremism, not Christianity, is the issue here is that nobody is asking the other Christian MLAs to clarify their religious views. And that’s because this is not about Christianity per se. That’s also why the religious views of newly minted Labour Minister Ric McIver never were an issue throughout his time on city council and later as an MLA, until it appeared that he might have been too chummy with anti-gay street preacher Art Pawlowski.

As Kris Wells, director of the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies at the University of Alberta, told the National Post: “I have no problem with people of faith running for public office. It’s about how one exercises that faith … Welcome to the realities of 21st-century Canada and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the equality provisions that exist.” Exactly.

Premier Jim Prentice is a savvy guy and, as a federal Conservative MP who broke from the herd to vote in favour of legalizing gay marriage nearly a decade ago, he is smart enough not to appoint to high office anyone who is likely to embarrass him on human rights issues.

What remains concerning, however, is that the two largest portfolios, Health and Education, are being headed up by people who were unelected. Even Prentice’s promise to make them run the gauntlet of byelections before the legislature resumes, doesn’t mitigate that discomfiting reality — for the simple reason that if left to their own devices, it’s quite possible that Dirks and new Health Minister Stephen Mandel might never have chosen to run for office.

Regardless of their ability to do the jobs they’ve been appointed to, this is a deliberate manipulating of the process by an equally unelected premier. It feels completely undemocratic, and frankly, unsavoury.

Thursday, my colleague, David Marsden, wrote that it was a sign of Prentice’s principled leadership that he would choose the candidates he thinks are best for the job and then offer them up to be voted on by the electorate. Truly principled leadership, however, wouldn’t essentially rig the process by making cabinet appointments and then telling voters to make up their minds about his choices. That smacks of Prentice believing he knows better than the voters who should represent them, despite his promise that Mandel and Dirks will go through the same nomination process as anyone else. Who really believes the riding associations won’t feel pressured to deliver up the preferred nominee?

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